Lube the splines...

[Kiwicol]

That's great, a video of the process to look at before I undertake the job, thanks a heap.

 

[Journeyman]

I made a YouTube video of this adventure. Take a look --->

Larry

Great job on that video, Larry. Yours looked a lot cleaner than mine did the first time. I'm not sure it's rust you're were seeing, or a combination. Someone said in my original post that the grease dries out that color. In any event, no grease is no bueno and everyone should be doing this procedure at regular (?) intervals.

I think you're right not to worry about replacing those studs. You'll find that Triumph always recommends replacing every bolt (large or small) that has Loctite on it.

I like undoing the nuts and having the studs fixed to help with the lining up process. Next time with the studs out and some heat you could easily make that happen, but if you have a buddy to help it probably doesn't matter.

A quick search and found on the Triumphtalk forum someone quoted
"SERVICE INTERVAL: 10,000 miles/16,000 Km or 12 Months, whichever comes first."
as coming from the manual for the RIII.

I think with good quality lube your recommendation of every 15K miles is probably fine too.

Thanks for sharing this...

 

[lotus]

Journeyman,
Did you check your U-Joints? Did find the rear joint to have a detent? How many miles do you have on your bike.

 

[Journeyman]

Journeyman,
Did you check your U-Joints? Did find the rear joint to have a detent? How many miles do you have on your bike.

I didn't notice anything, but I am about to change the rear tire in the next couple of weeks and plan to lube the splines. I'll check it out.
When you say, detent, do you mean a physical notch or an area of free play?

I'm a little over 40K miles now

 

[lotus]

When moving the joint on one axis, the shaft end wants to "settle" into one position, not falling
to the downward position. Maybe "notchy" is better? Don't know how to describe any other way.
Do have the "roughness" when accelerating from stop at low speed. It smooths out once above
30mph(?). It's fine above 30.
It might be I'm expecting it to be silky smooth at all speeds. When first considering a Rocket, I test
drove a new one at the dealership for a couple miles. I was in love with the Rocket after that.
However, I was surprised to notice a little roughness on pulling away from stop. Again, I was expecting super
smooth. After experiencing that on a new one, I ignored the "roughness" on mine to being the "nature of the beast".
As you'd expect, with 27K miles, the roughness is more exaggerated then the new one was.
After finding the "notchy" U-joint, I'm now wondering if mine has more of a problem? I might be overthinking this.
It's so subjective

 

[Kiwicol]

Lotus, a question for you please, once you get the bike to the state you have it at the end of the video, can the drive shaft be pulled out completely from inside the housing? I'd say it could be, but thought you'd know for sure.

That dentent you mentioned, after listening to it a second time, I'm just wondering if that is there to 'hold' the splined part in the appropriate position to line up the bevel box? You said it sort of just sits in this one position, & thought it could be for assembly reasons.

 

[lotus]

Lotus, a question for you please, once you get the bike to the state you have it at the end of the video, can the drive shaft be pulled out completely from inside the housing? I'd say it could be, but thought you'd know for sure.

That dentent you mentioned, after listening to it a second time, I'm just wondering if that is there to 'hold' the splined part in the appropriate position to line up the bevel box? You said it sort of just sits in this one position, & thought it could be for assembly reasons.

Once you get the final drive (bevel box) removed, you can simply pull out the drive shaft through the swing arm. However, when putting it
back in, you'll have to remove the cover up front and guide (plenty of room) the splined end into the transmission output. Understand the
drive shaft ends are different at each end. I marked one end to not waste time getting it wrong.

Once the splines are lubed and re-inserted into the transmission output, you can then push the bevel box into position. Because of the detent on my possibly bad u-joint(?), the splined end was sticking straight out making it easier to mate the final drive to drive shaft end. If you don't have the detent problem(?) you'll have to have some way to hold the splined end more straight out the back to mate the splines. I'm not sure you'd want your helper stick their fingers into the gap while pushing the final drive into place. Before knowing of the problem with my u-joint, I was prepared to cut a "V" into a piece of sheet metal to support/move the splined end for insertion. It turned out I didn't need to because of the detent. While trying to mate the splines while pushing, you can rotate the brake disc back and a forth to better align the splines. I hope I've explained that clearly enough....

 

[Kiwicol]

Yes thanks, great.

 

[papanorm]

Very impressive work and great video. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mike Sands]

Just a quick and probably stupid question. How much grease is too much on the splines when removing and re-inserting the rear wheel after a tyre change. The grease on the splines looks ok (Triumph must have done it 4k miles ago at the 20k service). Do I attempt to clean all that off, and then paste new moly all over the splines on both the male and female splines? I notice that a lot of the grease that triumph applied has been pushed beyond the splines as the wheel must have been re-inserted last time.
Mike